“You’ve said ‘police brutality.’ You’ve said ‘a lot of issues,'” said Whitlock, who has criticized Kaepernick for not standing during the national anthem. “That’s not that clear. If you’re gonna make this type of bold stand, and you want people to talk about the issues, you have to lay out the issues clearly.”

Whitlock failed to note that Kaepernick has already explained the reasons behind his protest before asking his question at a post-game press conference.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL.com last week. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick had also reiterated his argument prior to Whitlock’s question.

“We have a lot of issues in this country that we need to deal with. We have a lot of people that are oppressed,” he said. “We have a lot of people that aren’t treated equally, aren’t given equal opportunities. Police brutality is a huge thing that needs to be addressed.”

Instead of taking Whitlock’s apparent bait, Kaepernick ignored him and turned toward the next question.

On Thursday, one of Kaepernick’s teammates, Eric Reid, joined in the protest and knelt beside him on the ground during the playing of the anthem.

“Me and Eric had many conversations. He approached me and said, ‘I support what you’re doing. I support what your message is. Let’s think about how we can do this together,'” Kaepernick said.

The quarterback, who announced that he will donate $1 million this upcoming season to advocacy groups addressing police brutality, also responded to the challenge by his city’s police union to take part in a day of training while also accusing him of showing a “lack of sensitivity.”

“I’m most definitely considering it. The SFPD has had a lot of issues,” he said. “I think one of the issues that needs to be addressed [is] the racist text messages that have been passed back and forth between PD members — not only talking about the community, but talking about colleagues that work in the same department.”

Activist DeRay McKesson posted footage from the press conference on his Twitter account and called Kaepernick a “truth-teller,” as seen below.

About the Author

Arturo R. García is the managing editor at Racialicious.com. He is based in San Diego, California and has written for both print and broadcast media, including contributions to GlobalComment.com, The Root and Comment Is Free. Follow him on Twitter at @ABoyNamedArt